Questing?

What is it about questing that gets me every time? Whether I'm playing WoW, Fallout 3, or Legend of Zelda the feeling of achievement when completing a quest or task rivals or exceeds that of what I feel when finishing a real-life task. Is this simply to state that my IRL tasks are too simple, or that I'm not trying hard enough? Does it cheapen the in-game accomplishments to compare them to real life?

In WoW, questing is directly linked to the abstract of progression. With the completion of each task, you are pushing your character towards the next level. That sense of accomplishment is fleeting in say, a small quest you may receive from an NPC. But the big-time quests associated with completing some of the later end-game material seems to elicit the same reaction in me at least. As with the smaller quests, it seems to be simply the doing or adventure associated with the quest that is the source of satisfaction.


..more thoughts to come...